i have been talking to a lot of personal friends who are involved in a lot of these, on the republican and democrat side. they really made you feel that the medicare attacks have really hurt republicans. the republicans have had to muddy the water coming at the democrats on medicare, but when you are fighting on medicare grounds, and republicans have told me this -- even if they fight to a draw on medicare, that is a wasted opportunity to be talking about the economy. there are a lot of numbers we have been seeing that do appear to be moving the democrats. this medicare fight does not seem to be affecting the up ticket. it is not bringing ryan, the author of the plan, or romney down.

the i think a lot of what john boehner has called these horse races in new york state and california -- the republicans are hurting. i heard yesterday from somebody who said "you know, i hate to say it. i do believe the 25 might be in sight." nobody is betting on it, but i think at this point if the election was today, i think a lot more republican seats would be lost been democrats thought a few weeks ago. but voters are only tuning in through the race now. now it is the real political season. >> our guests joining us today -- you just heard from jonathan weisman, a congressional reporter for roll call. jonathan strong. both you gentlemen. thank you for joining us on "newsmakers."

>> america has been patient. americans have supported this president in good faith. but today the time has come to turn the page. the time has come to put the disappointments of the last four years behind us. to put aside the divisiveness. to forget about what might of been and to look ahead at what can be. now is the time to restore the promise of america. [applause] many americans have given up on this president, but they have not ever thought about giving up. not on themselves. not on each other. and not on america. what is needed in this country today is not complicated or profound. it does not take a special government commission to tell us what america needs. what the government needs is jobs.

lots of jobs. >> know this, america. our problems can be solved. if our challenges can be met. if the path we offer may be harder, but it leads to a better place. i am asking you to choose that future. i am asking you to rally around a set of goals for this country. goals in manufacturing, energy, education, national security, and the deficit. reel, achievable plans that will lead to new jobs and more opportunity. rebuild this economy on a stronger foundation. that is what we can do in the next four years. that is why i am running for a second term of the president of the united states. >> find a speech from both the democratic and republican conventions on-line fast at the c-span video library. >> republican's price residential president paul ryan

campaigned in nevada last friday. he talked of the proposals for trade, small business, and domestic energy that he and mitt romney would bring to the right house. congressman ryan spoke -- this runs about 20 minutes. ♪ >> hey, everybody. how're you doing over there? hello. wow. looked at you all. man. it is so great to see you. thank you so much for coming out. i love you, too, man. thank you for coming out and

stand in line. i appreciate it. i want to thank you you for something else -- i want to thank you for something else. thank you for those electoral votes and thank you for making mitt romney the next president of the united states. we have got a job to do, friends. and you know what? we have a lot of people who need jobs. and we have a big choice ahead of us. the question is, are we going to stick with four more years of the same? of the same path? no. are we going to have a country in debt, doubt, and decline? or are we going to do what we need to do to get people back to work, to fix the mess in washington, and to get this country back on the right track. [applause] we want to earn your support.

we want to deserve a victory. here is the problem. president obama and too many politicians like him in washington, they are more worried about their next election than they are worried about the next generation. [applause] we need leadership. here.ve marke that man is a great leader. send him back city to help us fix the mess in washington. we have a entrepreneur is in this country that built this country. by the way, john phillips, we are here at your business. you know what? you build this business. [applause] the government does not get the credit for that. you know, the president gave a big speech last night. well, just hear me out. look. president obama is not a bad guy.

no. president obama is not a bad guy. he is good at giving great speeches. he is just really bad at creating jobs. [applause] here is the problem. when you think that the road to success and prosperity is more borrowing, more spending, more taxing, off more regulating, a government-centered society with a government-run economy, these are the kinds of results that we get. if we want the next four years to be any different than the last four years, which need a different president. [applause] now, four years ago, president obama said if you do not have a record to run on, then you pay your opponent as someone that people should run from. guess what? that is exactly what he is doing

today. so, let's take a look at where we are. we got some pretty disappointing news just today. you know, we learned today that for every person who got a job, nearly four people stop looking for a job. they gave up. we cannot keep doing this. our economy needs to correct just 150,000 jobs every month just to keep up with the growth of our population. friends, this is not an economic recovery. this is nowhere close to an economic recovery. we need a new president and we need a real economic recovery. [applause] the president gave us this big stimulus package right when he got elected. he said, if we passed stimulus, and employment will never get above 8%.

we just learned today that it has been above 8% for 43 months. in nevada? 10%. look at the foreclosure rates. lookit the unemployment rates. look at the facts that over the last four years, family household income has gone down $4,000. lookit the fact that under the president's failed leadership, our credit downgrading -- excuse me, our credit rating has been downgraded for the first time in our nation's history. that 23 milliont americans are struggling to find work in america today. look at the fact that nearly one in six americans today are living in poverty. this is the highest poverty rate we've had in a generation. it is is not working. we have a plan to fix this.

that is with the romney-rights plan for a stronger middle-class is all about. -- romney-ryan plan for a stronger middle-class is all about. let me tell you the five basic things that we will get to work right away when we win this race. number one, in this state and across this country, we have lots of energy and lots of minerals. let's use that energy and create jobs. [applause] elector grenoble's. keystone pipeline. we can create a loss of jobs and lowered the price of our gas, lower the diesel costs. number 2, there are a lot of americans in between work. i have a lot of bodies in a row with lost their jobs to a big factor we had in our home town. they're in their 40's or their 50's. if they are in-between. if you need to have skills and

an education system so people who are stuck in a rut and get back to school, for and get back to a path of prosperity's of the temple themselves up and reach that horizon they are shooting for. that is critical. number 3, we need to make more things in america. we need to grow more things in america. we need to sell them overseas. we to make sure that countries teach, we hold them to account. -- when countries cheat, we hold them to account. this is something near and dear to my heart i been working on a long time. it is not that complicated. we have got to stop spending money we do not have. [applause] this idea of printing and borrowing is getting out of control. it is a huge cloud over our economy. president obama give this cow $1 trillion budget as far as the eye could see.

no balanced budgets. for $1 trillion budget spirit united states senate. have you as her this guy named harry reid in the senate? i take that as a yes. they have not bothered to pass a budget in three years. we have this law that says every year congress by april 15 which is a tax the for every american, it is a tax they for congress. haven't not doing it for three years. this is not governing. this is kicking in the can. this is blaming other people. this is not responsibility. we have got to get this budget under control or else we will end up just like europe. if you practice european economics, you get european results. the last thing, guess what. most of our jobs, they come from businesses like this.

they come from successful small businesses. we need to champion small businesses. you know what? when people are successful in businesses, that is a good thing. that is nothing to be ashamed of. that is a good thing. take a look at the peter built trucks, parts, and equipment company. the 67 employees here. this business pays their taxes as individuals. here is what that means. president obama is promising -- he already passed the law, that come january, the tax rates on these kinds of successful businesses goes above a 40%. this tax increase he is talking about, it pays for 8% of its proposed deficit spending. you know what? overseas, which were i come from in wisconsin means lake

superior, countries like canada are lowering the tax on their businesses. the lord it to 15% and barack obama wanted to go above 40%. you do not create jobs that way. you cannot create prosperity that way. guess what? this requires leadership. our job is to give you a clear choice. our job is to show you how we're going to get out of this dit ch. how we're going to grow this economy and get out of this rut. our job is to provide the leadership you deserve some you have a very clear choice of two futures. guess what? the moment and the men have met so well. that is why i am so proud to stand with a man like mitt romney. [applause]

this is a man who in everything in his life spells leadership. he is a decent man. a good man. an honest man. a man of faith. a man of integrity, achievements. you remember -- thank you. he likes you, too. do you remember the olympics in 1999? the waste, corruption, the bloated spending? that sounds kind of familiar today, doesn't it? they called mitt romney, he dropped everything he was doing, and he turned the olympics around and he made us proud. look what he did in business. you know what? i think it is a good thing we have a man who knows what it takes to be successful in business in the white house.

he created nearly tens of thousands of jobs. he started businesses. he turned around struggling businesses with an astounding degree of success. he knows firsthand that if you have a small business, you actually did build that small business. [applause] and if you want to see a good track record of comparison, look at what he did when he was just governor of massachusetts. when he was governor of massachusetts, he made sure that they actually cut spending. he worked with democrats who are 87% of the legislature he served with to balance the budget without raising taxes. [applause] household incomes went up. unemployment went down. the credit rating increase when he was governor of massachusetts. that is basically the opposite of what we have in the last four

years of barack obama. the president can give lots of speeches. he can say a lot of beautiful things. but he cannot tell you that we are better off. that is the difference. look. this race is not just about the borrowing and the printing and the spending and the regulating and all that has done to suppress economic growth, to deny opportunity, to get us where we are. this is not just about jobs or higher take-home pay. this is bigger than that. i think we all know this. this election is one of the most important elections we have had. it does not matter what generation you come from. this is the most important election in your generation. it really goes down to what kind of people do we want to be? what kind of country do we want to have? you know, we have these principles.

they are timeless principles. our founding principles. liberty. freedom. if free enterprise. self-determination. government by consent of the government which means the government works for us and not the other way of around. [applause] these principles matter. if we apply these principles, we fix the problem. if we rejected them, we become europe. here is the story. this is more than just economics. it is the identity of our country. that is what is so unique about america. america is not just nevada. it is not just wisconsin. america is an idea. it is the only country founded on an idea. that idea is very precious. look. our founders and said it better than anybody else can.

and sometimes even presidents need reminding of this fact. our rights come from nature and and not some government. [applause] our founders created it and every generation sense, our veterans preserve it and we thank them for that. [applause] you know, the other day in a charlotte they tried to remove god from their entire platform. they got caught and put it back in. there were against god before there were for him. look. this is what we are committing to you. we want to earn this election. we want to deserve a victory so that we have the mandates and the moral authority to fix this

mess. here is what we are going to do. we are not going to deduct these tough issues. we are now going to kick the can down the road. we're going to lead. we will get spending under control. we will get the economy going and we are going to take responsibility. [applause] we are not going to spend four years bringing -- for years blaming other people. we're going to fix these problems. and we are not going to try to transform this country into something it was never intended to be. [applause] we will not replace our founding principles. we will reapply our founding principles. [applause]

you know this. you have a lot of power in your hands. nevada, as you know, and you are used to this. what does that mean? it means you have a very special responsibility. lots of people around the country are depending on you. you also have a great opportunity. because if we meet this moment for what it is, we can get ourselves back on the right track. we can make america great again. we can get back on the path to prosperity. we can get the growth we need, the opportunities we need, we can get the society where our kids inherit a debt-free nation and a promising future. this is up to you, nevada. and here is what i simply want to say. we can do this. we can do this. it is not too late to turn things around. with your help, we will get this

done. we will turn this thing a down. to get this done. we need your help. thank you very much, reno. thank you very much, nevada. we appreciate everybody. god bless you all. thank you for coming out. [applause] ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] vice president biden continued his speech this weekend. speaking at a rally in a town in portsmouth. he accused mitt romney and paul ryan tax plan some of benefiting the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. this is half an hour. ♪

we take care of our own. ♪ >> i tell you, it is great to be here. he said the closer we got, the closer we are getting to heaven. [applause] i'd tell you what. wasn't this guy magnificent at the convention? [applause] until he spoke, i did not know what romney was going to do to santa claus. [laughter] no, i tell you what. this guide, this guy is amazing. what a difference government makes. and melanie, thank you for this

introduction. everyone stood up on sunday morning and said, i have to introduce the vice president in front of all those cameras. your gracious and i appreciate all of your hard work not just today, but what you have been doing for us for a long time now. thank you very much. [applause] and if my dad were still around, and he would say, please excuse me. -- please excuse my back. and by the way, it is great to be at a high school or the have great athletes and really bright students, i tell you. you guys are something else. i understand you have some great ball clubs, but your basketball team went to the finals two years in a row? well. and your students were finalists? you guys are something else.

it is usually one or the other, but you have got both. it is great to be here. ted has been my friend for a long time. he has sort of been my diet through ohio. in a delaware center -- in a delaware senator all my life until i became of vice president. my home is where i was born and raised early on. this is kind of like going home. seriously. if you know northeast pennsylvania, you would not be surprised. it is not a whole lot different than southern ohio or, actually, a lot of places and ohio. i feel really comfortable here. i feel like i will plan on coming back a lot. you know, as ted pointed out in his convention speech, and this

is not hyperbole. as he pointed out, he said this country faces the starkest choice for president of united states it has in at least my lifetime. that means and all of your lifetimes. but for all of the talks, for all the talk governor romney and congressman ryan have engaged in, it cannot have the courage -- at least not yet, to actually touch with their policies for this nation really are. it will shock you. i have the courage to tell you this morning with their policies are. [laughter] because, look, guys. it is amazing. if you listen, they talk so much about how much they care about medicare. you'd think it was a republican idea the way they talk about it. you think if republicans supported it, with all their coming, they talk about it. they do it sincerely. the talk about how sincerely want to preserve it and protect

the benefits of all those people, particularly guaranteeing all those people on medicare now. that nothing will change. if you listen to them these days, you would think that's it had been a republican plan all along. that is what they say. that is what they exude. but the me tell you if they do not tell you. these are facts. they do not tell you that their plan would immediately cut benefits for 30 million seniors. in wellness visits, and prescription drugs -- it would cut benefits immediately for those on medicare right now. what they do not tell you is that what they are proposing would actually cause the medicare trust fund that they want to protect -- remember? it would cause the trust fund to run out of money by 2016. that is a fact. their plan would cause it to run out of money by 2016. most important of all, what they

do not tell you, is there not for preserving medicare in the first place. i'm not making the usual argument with republicans, remember, with newt gingrich and the blind. they have a different plan. the have a fundamentally different plan. it is called a voucher care. i call it a voucher care. it is called the vouchers. by the, here is what is going to be. a lot of people say, they hear public official stand up and the other guy thinks this and the other debt things that. they stand up and say, i do not know. but let me tell you what they are for, for real. they have laid it out. they voted for these kinds of things in the republican house of representatives. here is what they talk about. the talk about giving your mom a voucher. a coupon that is worth a certain amount of money. they say, you go out there, in

the insurance market, and to bargain for the best deal you can get. seriously. this is not a joke. and, if it turns out that you want to stay in medicare, you can. you can bargain and get back in medicare. but if the amount of money we give you is less to me that if you get now, you have to make up the difference, mom. yet to make up the difference. ryan's first plan, which everybody got to look at and study and went through the house by the republicans, the experts said, that would cost mahlmann extra $6,400 a year out of her pocket. no one knows exactly what this new plan would cost, but the same principle. you're out of medicare and to get to buy back into it or some other plan and, do not worry, the market will take care of you. [laughter] all right. and they talk so much about the national debt.

the talk about the great urgency to bring it under control. the need to act now. we agree. we absolutely agree. let me tell you what they did not tell you. not once did they tell you that today, meaning romney, ryan, the republican congress, and i negotiate with the republican congress -- off not once for any of the outside plans, the experts plans, the thing they call simpson-balls that you hear about, -- simpson-bowles, not once, if it required even $1 or $0.10 in additional taxes, they rejected every single plan put forward. not once. ladies and gentlemen, the urgency. these two men think it can leave the country over the next four years. they have a fundamentally

different versions of the visions of what america should look like. they have a completely different value said. look. president obama and governor romney are both great husbands and great fathers. but that is where the similarity ends. i mean it. do not confuse that. that is where the similarity ends. governor romney for example, a lot of you heard about the global economy. you hear about the global economy. is israel. but he thinks in a global economy if it doesn't much matter where an american company puts their money or where they create jobs. over the past few days, i have been here in how ohio. i turn on the television in the morning or late at night. i see this at they are running in black-and-white on tv with president obama -- i am

paraphrasing. it says, president obama wants to ship your jobs to china. romney is going to get tough on china. he will bring jobs back to ohio and so on. china? creating jobs? i mean, incredible. absolutely incredible. itit wasn't so important, would be humorous. this comes from a man in the national press as a pioneer of outsourcing jobs from ohio to other places. this man, who said that if the federal government got involved with helping the automobile industry restructure, general motors would be the walking dead. this man who criticize the president and me for being protectionists, when we stood up

to china and said, to not deal in fairly with our tire manufacturers. guess what? by the way. we won. he called us protectionists for enforcing trade agreements. they are making more tires here in america. more people are working in america. and this guy runs an ad like he is running? another thing the governor did not tell you about. he did not tell you about his -- but i will. here is what he proposes. he proposes a new tax. he will not tell about his taxes, but he proposes a new tax relief, a new tax proposal

called territorial taxes -- territorial taxation. it that means for american corporations, if they invest abroad and anywhere else in the world, whatever profits they make, they never have to pay any u.s. taxes on net profit. they just pay the taxes in that country. an expert looked at that and said, that will create jobs. 800,000 jobs in china, india, singapore. look. this guy is criticizing my president for not standing up to china? for not creating jobs here? how does he think those jobs got back here? folks, look. notify the most fascinating? when i found most fascinating was in the governor's acceptance speech, which he made a good

speech. he made a firm commitment. one of the few of firm commitments i have heard him make -- it was firm. [applause] he said, remember this. he said, i make a commitment that i, as president, will go on a jobs stewart. but with all his support for outsourcing, it will have to be a foreign trip. first thing he will do is have to go abroad. [applause] of jobs to work. you know. look, folks. the president and governor romney have very different views on the importance of where jobs are created. my president, your president knows that creating jobs here in america, keeping jobs here in america off and bring jobs back to america, that is the president of united states is job.

[applause] but we talked about this. the thing we both find most fascinating about the republican convention is how they discovered the middle class. they discovered there is a middle-class. they talked about the middle class and middle-class values. there went on and on. i tell you. it warms my heart. and then they talked about what they value. they talked about what they value. my dad, and god love him, he had an expression. he would seriously always go, don't tell me what you value. show me your budget. all tell you what you value. do not tell me what you value. shamir budget and i will tell you what you value.

you say you value education? so on. well, let's take a look at romney's budget. let's take a look at what it does. what it values. medicare. massive cuts. medicaid, excuse me. massive cuts. 19 million people off of their health care. 1 million seniors. 70% of those seniors will be kicked off of medicaid who are in nursing homes. that is why they are there. that is how they're able to be there. what are we going to do? all those folks. a lot of them are our moms and dads. they come from middle-class families. even worse, some of them have no families and nowhere to go. what is going to happen to them? massive cuts in social security. 40's, you'reyour

getting $2,700 less than you get now. if you're in your 20's, you get $4,700 less in social security. massive cuts in education. early education. eliminating the $2,500 tax credit for middle-class families who are struggling to keep their kids in college. gets rid of it. pell grants. cuts for over 9 million working kids who are qualified for being in college and have an interest in getting a degree to build america. 9 million of them every year. gaudily knows how many of them will have to drop out. it is about nickels and dimes. it is a close call for these kids to be able to stay in school. where they do in all this? i could go on. it is because they need to, folks. because they need to pay for the

massive tax cuts they want to keep and the new ones they are proposing for the very wealthy. look. let me give you a couple of examples. i not want to keep you standing. $500 billion of maintaining what they call the bush tax cuts -- you know, we always talk about the bush tax cuts. $500 billion for maintaining that for the wealthy. it will cost $1 trillion for the next 10 years. but $500 billion of that money goes to 120,000 american families. $0.50 trillion goes to -- for 120,000 american families. ladies and gentleman, on top of that,, this is where the phrase that i think president clinton caused him to say, you know, folks, this is the last

administration on steroids. by the way. the have and know -- a brand new proposal. they want to cut taxes by another $250,000 a year on top of the $0.50 trillion. this is real. i know will not surprise you, but this is a very big price tag. when you give those massive tax cuts to the wealthy, and violets, those are good decent people. did not ask for this. they are as patriotic as the rest of america is. i did you serve them, they say they don't need it, although i have no proof of that. there are decent people. giving these massive tax cuts to the wealthy, what happens? you have to make it up somewhere. you have it. guess who. you. middle class americans. there is a nonpartisan

organization that goes out there of all the campaigns put together. that does a survey of what does it really mean economically. this outfit is called the tax policy center. they examined romney's tax plans. here is what they concluded. taxes on middle-class people will go up $2,000 a year. to thousand dollars a year. lay's in genoa, just to give an additional tax break to families who clearly do not need it. -- $2,000 a year. ladies and gentlemen, just to give an additional tax break to families who do not need it. $2,000 makes a difference. it is about whether or not you compare your automobile insurance. it is about if you keep your kids in school. it is about what you can eat for dinner. $2,000 matters. to under $50,000 doesn't matter to anybody who is making $8

million. -- $250,000 doesn't matter to anybody who is making $8 million. we have seen this movie before. how does it end? with the recession of 2008. if we know the way to create jobs is the old-fashioned way. from the middle out, not from the top down. [applause] let me tell you what our plan is. our plan is to focus first on education. 100,000 new math and science teachers over the next 10 years off to equip our generation to compete. 2 million workers learning new skills for a new economy through the community college movement. 1 million new manufacturing jobs in the next four years. if cuts oil imports by half in 2020. investing in clean for renewable energy, wind, solar. tens of thousands of jobs. 600,000 new jobs for better use of our resources. real and fair enforcement of our

trade laws. creating a level playing field so it can export to the world what the world wants. products stamped, made in america. because they want those products. [applause] and another tax sank made in ohio. -- and another stamp saying made in ohio. ending the war in afghanistan just like we did and iraq. and using that money to repair our roads, our bridges, our schools. [applause] that alone will create hundreds of thousands of jobs. invest here at home. leeson's own, it is simple. unlike the republican party, and by the way. this is not your father's republican party.

as a matter of fact, this is an even mitt romney's father's republican party. series a, it is not. i worked with republicans in my career. they're not bad guys. this is a different breed of cat. folks, unlike them, we see a future for everyone, rich and poor, does their part and has a part. we see a future. barack and i have committed this to our core where our granddaughters and daughters have every single opportunities that are grandson's have. where social security is protected, where we promote the private sector and not the privileged sector. we see a future where americans leave not only by the example of

her power, by the power of for example. a future because we must guarantee a future where we keep the only truly sacred obligation we have as a nation. we only have one truly, sacred obligation. that is to care for those who we sent to war and care for those who come home from war. folks, let me ask you. how many of you, like me, had a son or daughter who went to afghanistan. how many of you know somebody. how many of you know somebody in the military? you all know. you all know. we owe these young women and men an incredible debt. we know these families an incredible debt. we owe an enormous debt that we

can never play to the families of those 6473 fallen heroes. 49,746 wounded. thousands. thousands critically wounded who are going to need our best medical care for the rest of their lives. those of you men and women who fought in vietnam. 70% of those wounded in iraq and afghanistan, had they been wounded in vietnam would have died. but because of the golden hour, because of the breakthroughs, they are alive. but, i'd visit their hospitals all over the world -- all over the world. they can make it.

there are tough. but ladies and gentleman, we cannot forget. we cannot ever forget this sacrifice. we always have to keep them in our care. you know, there is a famous expression. they also serve those who stand and wait. i watched jill every morning. she is a teacher. she is having her coffee. she always fixes it over the sink. she is in prayer every single morning for those people who are deployed. 5, 10 times a day, it just flashes through your mind. folks, we owe so much. this is going to go down as the 9/11 generation as the second greatest generation in the history of this country. [applause]

folks, you know, folks. you know this country. all of you. all of you have been through an awful lot in the last four years. but the incredible thing is you did not lose faith. you did what americans always do. you fought back. you did not give up. you know as well as i do that there is simply no quit in america. we are coming back. ladies and gentlemen, when i hear romney-ryan talk about the culture of dependency, the decline in america, i do not recognize the country they are talking about. said it is our i live. it is not the people i know. i do know one thing. they are wrong. they are dead wrong. america is not in decline. if america is coming back. we're going forward. it is because of you. i have news for governor romney and congressman ryan.

south gentleman, it is never, never, never been a good bet to bet against the american people. ladies and gentleman, caught bless you all and may god protect our troops. thank you so much. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] "american perspectives c-span ♪ ♪

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>> watch and engage as the presidential candidates meet in three debates next month. at the university of denver, hofstra university in new york, and lynn university from florida. >> the final debate in florida as the questions turn to foreign policy. also was the vice-presidential candidates debate. the presidential and vice- presidential debate, live on c- span, c-span radio, and online at c-span.org. >> i am just angry. it is offensive to have people take on a position of public trust and then abuse it. and to do it in such a day -- and to do it in such a way.

to me, this is the other thing that bothers some. i'm a journalist. my job is to do you do and you do if you do. but they turn to their supporters. people who will said, the government is wrong. they are lying. they're out to get me. they're doing it because i am black. to use all those arguments and the supporters believe them. to me, that is despicable. >> tonight on a "q&a," colbert came looks at corruption. minutes -- updated reporters at minutes.

>> good afternoon. voting assistance for absentee military voters have never been better. i say it because of all the things we have put in place by way of our region and tools to help them to register and exercise their right to vote. we have online wizards. drop down menus and the things that walk you through step by step how to do something. in this case, registering for and obtaining an absentee ballot the big they go as far as putting in the right address on a mailing envelope that you can print out and mail in. we use social media -- twitter and facebook so we can reach out to the largest military population which is this 18 to 25-year olds. we have a mobile website so using a smartphone or a tablet, you can obtain access to our

information. we use e-mail for every member with an address to remind them how they can register to vote. in fact, as we are here today, we have an e-mail blast going out right now. we have a call center that operates five days a week that can be used by voters worldwide to obtain assistance on how to file an absentee ballot. and we have voting assistant officers. we have installation assistance boater offices. you may have heard that there was a report just released that calls attention to the installation voter assistant

offices. the contact information that they use to try to establish contact with the installation offices there simply was outdated. why was it outdated? in a military environment, things change. military members are reassigned. things change. we have joint bases. we have other kinds of things that happen so in any military environment whether the subject be voting or anything else, contact information changes. we agree with the ig that the most important thing we can do is to find the most effective way to maintain assistance for all of our absentee voters. we are absolutely committed to continue working with all stakeholders including the

congress to make sure that voting assistance remains the best it has ever been. i spent 25 years in the army and i voted absentee. i only wish i had access to the tools and resources that are available to our men and women today. i will take the first question. >> the military voter protection project says absentee ballot requests are down significantly, particularly in some of the swing states. they gave some numbers. can you explain why the absentee ballot requests are down this year? >> let me talk about what we know. we maintain a record of downloads from our web sites of the federal post card application which is a request to register to vote as well as a request for an absentee ballot. if we look back at the last presidential election in 2004

when there was a sitting incumbent and an uncontested primary, we are essentially running neck and neck with the number of applications down loaded. we are very close to running the same amount of downloads. we do not monitor the universe of the way in which people may register to vote or obtain ballots. they can also talk to voting assistant officers. that can go directly to states and localities. there are also private parties that maintain website to offer these services. talking to any number of folks who go to different places to get this information. >> do you reject criticism that the department has not done enough to help the military boating population -- >> i strongly believe voting

assistance is the best it has ever been. next please. >> back to that report -- is there any reason to believe that the troops have those new updated numbers? i am sure the ig folks would have called back. >> that is a great question. we have personally called all 221 offices and we're certain the intermission posted to our website is correct. in many cases, actual locations where these offices are. we are committed between now and the general election of calling each of the 221 offices every single week to make sure we have the most updated information.

>> in the report, it appeared the department indicated that it really did not think that these offices were really all that effective. you mention social media a number of times. are these offices prescribed by congress as they are not really cost effective or not efficient? >> we are committed to evaluating all tools to determine what of the most effective things going forward or the best ways to reach our absentee voters. will work with the congress and all affected stakeholders to continue to take a look at that and refined the way in which we conduct our reach. >> what is the current assessment? do you feel like those offices are in effective tool?

>> i feel like those offices are an effective tool for some voters. that is to save they are one of many tools in the arsenal. our job is to provide assistance to a multitude of absentee voters then they are they effective for some? yes, they are. we will continue to evaluate the best methods of our reach. >> can you just outlined for a military voter what is the process they should go through between now and the election date? what are the deadlines they need to meet? what is the easiest way to do this? >> we have a number of options. they can visit with their unit voting assistance officer or they can go on-line to a website or go directly to state or local jurisdiction web site as available.

they can use any of those methods to obtain a request to register to vote as well as obtain an absentee ballot. our online wizard will walk them through the process. as for deadline's coming across the board it would probably be a good thing to say about 30 it is a good thing -- i would refer you to our website-- >> what is your metric for success when it comes to election day? abc numbers are lower on park, is that a figure for the office? >> we are providing assistance.

that means making sure people have the information and tools and resources they need to decide to register to vote and to request an absentee ballot. then, to cast their vote. at the end of the day, what we are trying to do is make sure they have everything they need to exercise that right to vote. it is a personal responsibility to actually execute that, but we do not believe that this point in time that voter registration is an accurate way to detect whether or not voter assistance is effected. >> thank you for coming today to answer any questions. if you have any questions, please feel free to take a look at their website, www.fvap.org.

the federal voting assistance program. thank you. >> watch and engage. the presidential candidates meet in 390-minute debates next month. the first debate, october 3 from the university of denver, will focus on domestic policy, followed by the canada is answering questions in the audience at hofstra university in new york on tuesday october 16. the final debate in florida on october 22, the questions will turn to foreign policy. you can watch the vice presidential candidates' debate, thursday october 11 from centre college in kentucky. the presidential and vice presidential debates -- live on c-span, c-span radio, and online-c-span.org. >> former president jimmy carter told an audience at a u.s.-latin

america conference that the u.s. should lift the embargo on cuba, and he hopes the next president will seek to improve relations with latin america. from washington d.c., this is 25 minutes. >> good afternoon. it is a great honor to have the chance to introduce a great man. we are very pleased at this conference -- we started with a wonderful presentation by the carquinez speaker during the conference. now we have -- the keynote speaker during the conference. now we have the second keynote speaker. it is a great honor to have

president carter with us. president carter is quite a man. this morning, he woke up at 4:00 in the morning. he came from his house, which takes about two hours. he took a taxi from the airport. he got here two hours ago. he is going to give a speech, and after that he goes back. it is remarkable. especially i want to thank you, the audience and myself, for the efforts you are making. when one looks at the history of latin america, especially the involvement in democracy, there is no doubt that president carter is a key player, a key actor, a fundamental player in a

changing the approach towards democracy in latin america. when he was president, let's remember, latin america had governments -- many of them were actually military dictatorships. abuses of human rights were not issues in the discussion. take into account the u.s.-latin american relationship, it was an e essentially pragmatic one based on economic interests. the principles of human rights and democracy is we're not really a key element in the agenda. then comes president carter. he made this a very central topic of the protocols of the united states. it was not easy. it became a reality.

one by one, the countries of the region, which were not used to be elections or very used to democratic governments for many years and decades, suddenly one after the other started to become democracies. of course, after he left the presidency, he did not just write memoirs. he has a beautiful house -- but he decided to continue being a big player in supporting the principles of human rights and democracy. we see president carter going from one country to another, observing elections. he has given the opportunity to talk in friendly ways with

different actors in the region. i have witnessed that. it could be that maybe some actors are antagonistic to the united states. some of the actors have differing views about how the world should function. but the great concept of democracy -- what the concept of democracy is. but president carter has the ability, the wisdom to interchange ideas, to lead in a positive way and receive the views of those who may at times have different views, and to do it in a very pleasant way. they like him. everybody likes him. i tell you, when we say

president carter, they are happy. mr. carter -- he supports some of the programs, in many cases in difficult situations in the region. and not be more appropriate to have this final session, to have president carter here. i would like to welcome you and thank you very much. the -- the podium is yours. after that we will have a very interesting panel. others will join us -- they will moderate the session. thank you very much.

the podium is yours, president. [applause] >> good afternoon, everybody. good afternoon, everybody. thank you. president garcia, my good friend, ladies and gentlemen, it is an honor and pleasure for me to be here at this conference to share with you some perspectives on? >> -american relationships, both in my brief talk and in the discussion after this. as president, what i've valued most was our membership in the organization of american states.

i made every effort to attend the annual meetings. when i could not, i sent my secretary of state, because i thought it was one of the most important relationships that washington had with the rest of the world. from a -- our latin neighbors, it was from them that i learned the importance of correcting the troubled relationship we had then with panama concerning the canal. my predecessors have promised to correct that problem. when i became president, i decided to do something about it. 35 years ago tomorrow, i signed the panama canal treaty. in my speech, i recognized, and that the quote, "the commitment of the united states to the belief that fairness, not force,

should lie at the heart of our dealings with the nations of the world." if any agreement is to last it must serve the best interests of both nations. it was very costly politically to me and other supporters of the canal treaties. as a matter of fact, there were 20 u.s. senators who voted for the canal treaty who were up for reelection the next year. of the 20, only seven came back into office. the same thing happened to an incumbent president, i might add. [laughter] but we believe it is the right thing to do, and history has borne it out. despite the warnings of some opponents said the panamanians could not manage the canal, they have done it superbly. a few years ago i went down to panama and the current president and i observed the first

doubling of the canal. the treaty has exemplified how to disputing nations can, with fairness and mutual respect, agree to serve the best interests of both of them. fairness means respect for each society's decision about its own course. it also means recognizing the inherent value of every individual. we are sometimes confused. respect for other nation's sovereignty -- we confuse that with the notion of absolute non- intervention. i know this is partly a response to my own country's history of importing our ideologies. sometimes using force. this is mostly when we were in bed with the military dictators, who were in charge of

a lot of countries in south america. this past is regrettable. but it cannot be an excuse today for denying human-rights or rejecting collective approaches to shared problems. the concept of fundamental human rights is our common dream, but all of us fail in some way to honor these principles. it is only with a shared commitment that we can build confidence, both among citizens and their governments, that universal rights will be respected and protected. this is a challenge all of us face every day. as a new president, i encouraged the championship of human rights. the progress of freedom and democracy since then has made me proud. but i am worried about becoming future across this hemisphere.

societies are struggling with the relationship between government and citizens. the role of the state in managing the economy and helping to ensure the most vulnerable in societies can lead a decent life -- as we debate and experiment with ways to address these fundamental issues, we often fall into the trap of disrespecting and denigrating other points of view. when our societies fail to agree about the best way forward, we become both polarized and paralyzed. we have seen these deadlocks of all, not just in, but also between our countries. when we fail to listen or communicate, we lose our capacity to resolve problems together that we cannot resolve alone. challenges like illicit drug

trafficking, trans-national crime and terrorism, in hansen commerce between nations, and dealing with climate change. it requires courage and leadership to take the first step toward mutual understanding. i have been particularly impressed recently with the president of colombia as he reaches out to two of his neighbors to restore diplomatic relations. they do not always agree on everything, but they can now work together on issues of security in and across their borders. i am particularly pleased that he has begun talks with the farc. this morning, i was on the radio with the president, talking about this problem, which i hope he will resolve with the support of other leaders in his country. likewise, to improve the relationship between my country and cuba, that requires courage on both sides.

i am distressed that the united states -- that they continue the economic embargo against cuba and displayed no interest in furthering or improving diplomatic relations. all of us have continued to press the cuban government to respect human rights and political openness, but the embargo under-any credibility that my country has in cuba. also our so-called democracy aid program is aimed at regime change and does not promote our -- democracy. unfortunately, the program is used by some in cuba to justify keeping american contact -- to keep alan gross, who i know to be innocent, in prison. a more sincere dialogue needs to be held between the two

countries if the united states is to remove cuba from a state- sponsored terrorism list. the main reason they keep them on this list is because of farc and the eta in spain have offices in to buy, but when i was last in cuba the colombian and spanish officers in cuba said having them there offers an opportunity for dialogue. the peace talks recently were partially in cuba. if you but cannot take the first step, then business and civic leaders should exert leadership to promote harmony and justice for beneficial results that are not only political but would also be a great help in commerce and trade. this improvement would be unlimited. we are now that security of

citizens is the first responsibility of government. the state must prevent individuals from engaging in criminal and violent acts and must punish the guilty. however, our governments must strike a proper balance between acting decisively against danger, be it domestic or foreign, and maintaining the fundamental right to due process of law. we must safeguard the hard-one gains we have made to prevent the abuse of power that inevitably results when the executive claims for itself unchecked power to detained without trial and even kill persons it considers to pose a threat, and to conduct surveillance of citizens without warrants. i hope you will soon correct these mistakes. in the struggle against terrorism and crime, it is essential for democracies to provide security without robbing

the human rights. one of the most pernicious consequences of the international struggle to combat illicit drugs is the harm to non-violent users and their families. latin american society pays a disproportionate price in lost lives, corrupted justice systems, and overcrowded prisons because we have emphasized drug eradication and have neglected reducing demand for drugs. as president 35 years ago, i called for decriminalizing, but not legalizing, the possession of marijuana. since then, u.s. drug policies have been very horrible to our own country and have caused an explosion in prison populations. in the white house in 1980 -- when i left the white house in 1980, there were 500,000

americans in prison. now there are five times as many. the united states has the highest incarceration rate in the world. the number of people in prison for non-violent crimes involving drugs has increased more than twelvefold. 12 times as many. not only has this policy destroyed the lives of millions of young people and their families, especially the poor and minorities, it is wreaking havoc for state and local budgets. it is time to look for an alternative approach, beginning with treatment instead of just imprisonment for people who use drugs but do no harm to others. in 1977, i signed the american convention of human rights, saying, and i quote again, "as far back as the late 1820'sthesimon de bolivar set

out the responsibility of government to protect the rights of individuals. it is with great pleasure that i sign this convention on human rights, which will spell out in clear terms our own belief in the proper relationship between free human beings and governments chosen by an." although the united states senate has not yet ratified the convention, 24 other countries of this hemisphere have signed it. in our american court of human rights -- it was born in 1979. the court and the commission has created one of the most comprehensive human rights systems in the world. it is an achievement of which we should all be proud, and which we must all strive to protect. these institutions serve the citizens who may have no other way to assert their basic rights and demand protection for themselves. we should not see them as an

affront or a threat to the authority, but rather as our shared obligation to promote and protect universal human rights that we all hold dear. i was proud that my administration gave strong support to the commission, which played a central role in reducing oppression throughout the hemisphere and reinforcing the march toward democracy. but i'm concerned about ongoing problems like the violence suffered by indigenous groups in disputes over natural resources, and government actions that infringe on freedom of expression and the news media. i'm disturbed by reports of human rights violations about some -- by some government security forces. i am alarmed at in human prison conditions in many countries that threaten the lives of indicted prisoners and citizens detained for long period crack without jury. the human rights systems strives to protect citizens in all these

situations. we should protect the inter- american rights system that gives them this protection. we must look for additional ways to strengthen the commission on human rights and assure its independence from political pressures. strong and effective rapporteurs are needed to address violence against women and children. as well as discrimination and freedom of expression. not ber economy must reduced. of the oas should carefully look at proposals now being put forward. i call on my nation and others to ratify the american convention and joined the inter- american court. i have asked venezuela to reconsider its plans to withdraw. i see it -- i offer the carter center as a place to examine these institutions and insure

the achievements we have made in this hemisphere are not abandoned but will instead live beyond us. finally, i cannot ignore to significant election campaigns now under way. they hold lessons for all of us. venezuela will elected president on october 7. the united states one month later. despite the many differences between our two countries, we have some important similarities. both presidents might deny this, but it is true. both countries are debating the fundamental relationship between state and society. what guarantees that our governments will nprovide to all our citizens, and especially the most vulnerable? who would pay for the guarantees? what mechanisms need to be strengthened to ensure that courtroom and rights and fundamental fairness are protected? these are fundamental issues, and neither country is handling the debate very well. the elections are influenced by

another unfortunate policy that our two countries share. the united states and venezuela are anomalies, holdouts in the hemisphere in that they do not provide public financing for political campaigns. as a matter of fact, the u.s. does offer public financing for presidential campaigns, which my opponents and i accepted with a running for office. but now the candice reject the financing and the limits for spending that come with it. money and politics undermines -- money in politics undermines the fundamental tenets of democracy, political equality. for some countries, the challenge is how to keep a list money like drug money out of politics. for the united states, the issue is how to prevent undue influence of money in politics was not infringing on freedom of speech. the candidates in our country

will not accept public funding, and with the supreme court offering unlimited and often anonymous private contributions, well paid donors and special interests fled the airwaves with negative ads not subject to campaign regulation. as a result, basic political equality is undermined, since the wealthy have a far greater opportunity to influence the election of candidates and then, for the next four years, to shape public policy. the problem in venezuela is that an incumbent running for reelection can place at that look like campaign ads and command broadcast coverage of his speeches. the concern is not private money in this campaign, but the extensive use of public money and state resources in favor of the governing party.

this and other election issues -- several latin american countries offer better practices that can benefit all of us. brazil, mexico, kiowa, and many others, regulate it entirely and have laws that prevent the incumbent president from campaigning. they prohibit negative campaigning and provide $24 million in public financing to each candidate. in contrast, the u.s. campaigns for federal office this year will cost more than $6 billion. that is $6 billion. -- 6000 million dollars. much is spent on destroying the reputation of opponents. we believe they will be honest. we encourage every citizen to go out and vote. vote in the united states and in

venezuela. i have discussed fairness and human rights. these are basic qualities in both human and international relationships. we may have different visions of how to address the fundamental challenges facing us, but we will never be able to address them satisfactorily unless we return to basic stability and a willingness to cooperate, to find solutions based on common values. we must begin with a concern for the most formal among us and a commitment to treat each individual with equity and fairness. this will provide in our western hemisphere a bright future for all of us. thank you very much. [applause] >> in four weeks, the first of the presidential debates, live on c-span, c-span radio, and c- span.org. span.org.